This dress is similar to the purple gamurra I made recently. This one will have a seam up the front and side back lacing, and a slightly different layout of guards in the front. The wool is also not quite as thick and heavy.

I haven't decided yet on what fabric to use for the sleeves. I need to go through my stash for those small pieces that I've accumulated over the years, claiming "I can make sleeves out of that".

added by Lorenzo Petrucci on Dec 18 2008

The two portraits I've linked show similar dresses from either side of the turn of the 16th century. The Raphael portrait clearly shows a seam down the center front of the bodice, which I am going to need to get the right shape. The main difference between the two is the width of the neckline. I will probably go with the somewhat narrower neckline of the Boltraffio portrait (or somewhere in between), since I plan to use the layout of guards from that portrait. If the neckline is too wide, the guards from the edges of the neckline down to the waist would be hidden under the sleeves.

added by Lorenzo Petrucci on Dec 18 2008

I've draped the bodice pattern and cut the wool out. I also decided to use some orange velveteen for the sleeves, to be lined with bronze satin.

added by Lorenzo Petrucci on Dec 20 2008

All the bodice pieces are built, and the guards are almost all attached. The back seam is still unfinished so that I could lay the guards out on a mostly flat surface. I still need to finish attaching the guards and do the eyelets, then sew up the back seam and the bodice will be done.

* When I first cut the front pieces of the bodice, the armscyes came too far forward and the neckline was about an inch too low. After I recut the new pieces, I decided to use the old ones as an interlining, which I sewed down to the lining.

* The lining is a pink cotton/linen.

* The armscyes, lacing edges, and neckline are all bound with black cotton/linen. The bottom edge, strap ends, and front and back seams were turned under and finished, trimming back the interlining where necessary. The strap and front seams were then butted together with an overcast stitch.

* Basting takes a lot of time, but it makes all the difference for keeping things lined up.

added by Lorenzo Petrucci on Dec 21 2008

* Eyelets are done. The downside to the curved side-back lacing is that if the gap isn't just right, the two sides don't really line up correctly. Hopefully this won't be a big problem.

* Speaking of problems, it turns out the bodice was just a tad on the small side. I opened the back seam up ( easy enough with a butted seam) and made a panel about 1.5" wide to stick in there. This will make it easy to adjust for expected future weight loss, so I'll call this one a blessing in disguise.

* I need to try the bodice back on and measure for skirt and sleeve lengths later this week. The hard part is done, though.

added by Lorenzo Petrucci on Dec 21 2008

* The body of the gamurra is done! The skirt has two trapezoidal panels in front and back. with a pair of narrower trapezoidal gores on each side. The center back panel is knife pleated onto the back of the bodice, while the front panel and gores are knife pleated onto the front part of the bodice. The center front has no pleats.

* I decided to make the sleeves narrow to a loose cuff (like in the Donna Gravida portrait), and therefore opted not to line them. This turned out to be a good idea, because the velveteen is incredibly hard to get a needle through on its own. I would have had the sleeves done tonight, but my sewing hand is too worn out from the first one to finish the second.

added by Lorenzo Petrucci on Dec 28 2008

I thought I was done, but there's still a bit of work left to do. Putting the dress on, the skirt turned out to be about 5" short of the ground. Part of that was a small heel on the shoes, but I still need to extend the skirt about 3.5" or so. The plan is to add a guard to the skirt if I can find some more black velveteen. I also think I'll put hooks and eyes on the little flappy plackets on the skirt openings in the back. Aside from that, everything looks pretty good.

added by Lorenzo Petrucci on Dec 31 2008